UH opens practice according to plan

Briles says he's not concerned about QB job yet

Published 5:30 am, Friday, August 3, 2007

There were no surprises on the Houston Cougars' first day of preseason practices.

Coach Art Briles said the team worked hard and there were no major injury concerns. And the quarterback question, which Briles said has been blown out of proportion, is a non-issue in his eyes.

"I thought (the quarterbacks) did good. I think it's an overblown topic," Briles said. "Our team is going to be a dynamic team. We're going to be a tough team, and we're going to be a confident football team.

"Whoever ends up playing that position, or the players that end up playing that position — it might be more than one — they're going to do their job, and they're going to help this team win because that's the way that they've been programmed."

Briles said in Tuesday at the Conference USA media days in New Orleans that he thinks the Cougars' defense this season will be one of the more dominant units he has had at UH.

Despite switching to a 4-2-5 defense, Briles and safety Ernest Miller said the team feels comfortable with the new alignment and will be ready for the Sept. 1 opener at Oregon.

"We're just coming out here reintroducing everything we worked on in the spring," said Miller, who had 83 tackles, two interceptions and two forced fumbles last season. "We're making sure everybody gets what we're doing before we really start working on Oregon.

"The 4-2-5 isn't really going to be that much different, because we run a nickel package that was somewhat like it. Basically what we're doing is putting more of our D-linemen that were in the 3-4 onto the field. It's not like we're learning anything new."